Oceans of Sand by Jessica Flory
Series: Sand Traveler Duology: Book 1
Pages: 319
Format: Paperback
One girl. Her boat. An ocean of sand to cross.
Norah’s desert world has always been treacherous, with the roiling ocean of sand, giant scorpions, and brutal sandstorms—but now an unnatural famine plagues the desert nations and threatens to destroy all.
Despite being the only one in her village without a sand gift, Norah is chosen with her best friend, Zadock, to sail across the ocean of sand in search of the legendary moonstone, an artifact that could end the famine.
As Norah and Zadock set off on their journey, secret romantic feelings each has suppressed for years rise to the surface. Love weakens sand gifts, and if they act on their feelings, Zadock’s sand gift will disappear.
Caught in a crossfire between forbidden feelings, an unforgiving desert, and starving nations willing to do anything to survive, Norah and Zadock discover the true meaning of sacrifice—and the power that love has to heal the world.
In late 2024 I went to a “local authors” expo at my library as a little break from a grueling college semester. I actually got to meet Jessica Flory (an encouraging experience!) and I picked up three of her books: Oceans of Sand, Dunes of Water, and The God Heist. All three are part of the same fantasy world, but I’m only reviewing Oceans of Sand in this post.
Like many other people, I’m a big fan of the popular fantasy/romantasy books going around right now (Fourth Wing, ACOTAR, Caraval, etc). But my biggest gripe with them is that I don’t really like the spice scenes. They make me entirely too uncomfortable, and I’d much rather read a good ol’ closed-door, Pride and Prejudice-style yearning romance. Oceans of Sand was, quite literally, the perfect fit for my tastes. Romance is a pretty big part of this series, but it’s completely free of spice (the language is also entirely clean, if that is something that is important to you).
When it comes to the romance aspect, Zadock is a twist on the expected love interest. He is almost the exact opposite of the morally grey, dark-haired bad boys I’ve been seeing a lot of in YA and Adult fiction, acting as the doting love interest that is sincere and dedicated in everything he does—the type of guy you’d actually want to meet in the real world, flaws and all. While Zadock and Norah’s arcs are heavily intertwined throughout the book, they still have moments where their story isn’t dependent on their potential relationship with each other. Their push-and-pull, will-they-won’t-they dynamic is a familiar concept, but Flory adds her own twist by cutting out regularly used tropes like miscommunication and the like. The only reason Zadock and Norah aren’t together is because of the necessity of sand gifts that fade with love. Frankly, I feel that this creates a more authentic tension that carries throughout the novel, even in the parts that aren’t focused on the romance element.
The other two protagonists, Norah and Imwreath, are both fascinating characters; especially when you look at them in comparison to each other. Though on opposite sides (and with less interactions), their upbringings and current circumstances make them compelling foils of each other. Everything about them is different, to the point where they practically exist on opposite sides of an axis, and yet those differences are so balanced that they actually come across as very similar characters. And I don’t say that rudely—the dynamic between them was actually one of my favorite parts of the book.
Before I read this, I was a little apprehensive about how the worldbuilding would be done. Fantasy is a slippery slope when it comes to worldbuilding, and with only two and a half books to the series, I was worried Oceans of Sand would either have too much exposition/explanation or too little. However, I really like the amount that we are given and how it is integrated. There are some expositional sections where Norah, Zadock, or Imwreath will outright tell you how parts of the world function. It’s a necessity authors can’t always avoid. But for the most part, the worldbuilding and world explanation are done only as needed (so there is no great info-dumping halfway into every chapter), and it happens so naturally within conversations or internal monologues that it didn’t draw me out of the story. Overall, I was rather impressed. I always want to know more about interesting worlds, and that was certainly the case here. And yet I think if I was given any more details about the world, I would have quickly gotten bored. It’s an immersive world with an intriguing use of sand-based magic that makes for a rich setting for the characters to navigate.
All in all, this was a very enjoyable book. The plot was paced well, there was a strong mix of political and romantic tension to keep events moving forward, and we’re left with a delicious cliffhanger to lead into the second book. On top of that, the romance is absolutely adorable and swoony without any explicit scenes. I’m definitely going to keep an eye on Flory’s future works because this might be one of my favorite fantasy books I’ve read in several years.
AMBER BUDD - Author 